At the end of August, Chicken Little and I flew into the storm, literally. The weekend before she was supposed to start school, Hurricane Irene hit the East Coast. I was concerned that our flights would be cancelled, so instead of being delayed, I was able to reschedule to leave a day early... Yes, you read that right.
We arrived on Friday night and the hurricane hit on Saturday night. I know that a lot of people were flooded and without power. For us, thank goodness, the storm was inconvenient, but not too bad.
(This is the view from CL's window.)
Saturday it was a bit drizzly during the day, but we had tons to do. We had to move her into her new apartment - which meant painting, buying her a mattress and hitting the thrift stores to find a headboard. All started well: mattress - check, paint - check, Salvation Army....closing early because of the storm?!? It was 1:00, and it wasn't even raining yet! So we improvised. But first a trip to unload the van and check out her new digs.
This is her building - promising, but no parking. (I ended up with a $75 parking ticket - grrr! - was NOT happy about that!)
But wait - a flight of stairs just to get into the building - a little of the luster wore off...
After unloading, we made a 4-hour detour through southern Pennsylvania! Oh. My. Goodness! That was some of the best thrifting - EVER! We ended up finding an old wall-mounted magazine rack to use as a headboard ($25), a bench with storage (critical feature!) ($20), and a CUTE school desk and chair ($8!!) that she is using a night stand. We also found several old suitcases (that I HAD TO HAVE), but that's for another post.
Finally, we made the trek back to her apartment and unloaded the van (in the rain). Since the storm was really starting to come in, we decided to head straight to the hotel for the night. BIG MISTAKE - all of the power at the hotel was out - ALL. NIGHT. LONG! The apartment never lost power - hmmmm...
Relatively minor damage in her neighborhood, but they did lose one big tree which blocked the road.
Back to the salt mines - painting, assembling and unpacking. And a trip to the grocery store and Home Depot before I headed back to Texas.
Lots of work to do!
Seriously - that's her closet! Don't you just love old buildings with character?! Needless to say, we had to go to Wally World and get her one of those self-contained closet thingys (see below) so she would have a place to hang her clothes.
I also noticed that there were a couple of spots on her ceiling that appeared to be darker than the rest. Apparently, the landlord still hasn't fixed this problem. Hopefully, it was just because the storm was so strong, and it's not something that leaks every time it rains because the spot happens to be right over Chicken Little's bed. The sky really could be falling - HA! HA! HA!!! Now, that would be a rude awakening! (I crack myself up!)
On a positive note - look at those wood floors! GORGEOUS!
CL's smiling because we've finished the painting and have started to assemble things, and she doesn't have anything else to carry up those darn stairs! She's standing in front of a cute little mantel (no fireplace) in her room.
OMG! It was a loooooonnnnggg day of work. The only people third floor walk-up apartments are good for are college students who don't know any better! EGAD!
So, we hadn't finished unpacking when I had to leave, but we had made a TON of progress. Here's the almost finished room.
Magazine rack/headboard hung on the wall with about a gazillion screws (still, I told her not to weight it down too much). Notice a pattern here? It's perilous for the child to go to sleep!
She has a white matelasse spread on the bed because it will go with everything, and she has a couple of colorful quilts that she throws on top.
Also, there's the desk as nightstand, and that ugly but practical closet thing. The cute light we bought this summer is one of a pair. The other one is hanging on the other side of the room over her real work desk.
Her it is with her pink desk (a painted garage sale find from last year), and the dresser that she inherited from the previous tenant. We painted the dresser and the magazine rack the same gray (found in the ooops! section at Wally World). We also spray painted the shiny brass hardware a hammered nickel(?).
And we hung the sheers - I tried to convince her to get heavier curtains - but this is what she wanted. They are pretty, but I hope she's not too cold in the winter - sleeping right there by the windows.
The visitor on the bed belongs to one of her roommates. His name is Christopher Robin - he made himself quite comfortable right away.
The rest of the apartment is cute, too. It was already furnished because she has two roommates who have been there for a couple of years. I'm sure we really disrupted their weekend. Oh well - all in all, I think it was a successful trip. We got her mostly settled and we didn't get washed away. I did, however, have to take to my bed for two days afterwards just to recover!!
25 Days of Christmas
17. Do you take neighbor gifts/treats to anyone, everyone, a select few?
Most years, we take cookies to the neighbors we talk to on a regular basis. But since I've decided that I'm only baking a couple of batches, we will probably be a little Scroogey with them this year.
